


Perfection

by Beek_100



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:30:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beek_100/pseuds/Beek_100
Summary: Paul has a surprise for Daryl on their anniversary, but problems arise which may stop it from happening.





	Perfection

Paul breathed in deeply as he woke up, stretching slightly as the rough hands that were on him caressed from his shoulders to the bottom of his back. As the hands delved lower, scratchy stubble tickled the side of his neck as teeth bit down lightly on the same area. The wandering hands began to massage his ass as a rough, sleepy morning voice filled his ears.  
“Happy anniversary, baby”

Paul smiled as the mouth on his neck moved back to his shoulders as Daryl gently moved him to lay on his front. His mouth and hands followed a trail down Paul’s spine until he met his destination and gently spread Paul’s ass cheeks, running his tongue down the crack until he found the puckered hole, enjoying the moan it drew from Paul.

“Fu—Daryl!” Paul shouted as one finger quickly joined the tongue and began to stretch him open. What a way to wake up, Paul thought.

A second finger joined the first and Paul arched his back into them as Daryl slid back up to suck at his neck again, teeth grazing as he grinned.

“Please, Dar, please”, Paul begged, rutting forward into the mattress to alleviate some pressure from his swollen dick.

He felt movement from behind him and the rustling of the bedside table drawer as Daryl grabbed the bottle of lube and opened it, removing his fingers and drizzling some onto them, returning them to Paul’s waiting hole. Paul moaned at the slick feeling and pushed his ass back onto them even more as Daryl covered his dick with lube from his free hand.  
The fingers moving inside of him disappeared and he momentarily mourned their loss, until a larger, harder object rubbed against him, begging entrance. Paul moved his hips back and allowed Daryl to slip inside him, earning a groan from each of them. Daryl slowly and carefully pushed his way in until he was fully seated, and stayed still until Paul had adjusted, plastering himself to Paul from behind and wrapping his arms around his front, gently running his hand over Paul’s hard cock.

Paul moaned out loud and covered Daryl’s hand on his dick with his own as the thrusts began slowly then grew harsh and strong, their skin slapping together almost violently as Daryl’s hand simultaneously sped up. They came together, both shouting and clutching at one another.

“Happy anniversary indeed” Paul chuckled, leaning back to kiss Daryl soundly. Daryl laughed and ran his hands through Paul’s hair as he settled back, catching his breath and stretching.

Paul bounded out of bed and threw on his dressing gown then began tying his hair into a bun.

“How the fuck do you have so much energy after every time?” Daryl asked, huffing slightly.

“Cause I’m amazing, and I’m going to make my equally amazing boyfriend breakfast in bed for our anniversary” Paul replied, leaning over Daryl to kiss him again, “Then we’re packing our bags on the bikes and riding to the cabin to have a romantic evening together”

“Sounds perfect, I’ll just wait here for my food then, chef” Daryl joked, slapping Paul’s ass as he turned around.

*****

Cooking was something Paul was confident doing, the only thing besides his fighting classes which made his mind clear and made him feel at ease. He had never made a dish that Daryl disliked and almost never caused a mess or made a mistake when he cooked either. Which was why, when he picked up the spatula to flip over Daryl’s bacon, he did not expect the handle to be red hot from being left near the burner for too long.

“FUCK” he shouted involuntarily, clutching his injured hand gingerly, bending over and leaning on his knees as the pain blossomed across it.

“Paul?!” Daryl called, and Paul could hear him moving around in their room, likely throwing on clothes. He quickly crossed to the sink to run the cold tap on his hand, which only served to soothe it on the surface, the pain under the skin still remaining. Shit, he thought, how the fuck am I going to be able to ride my bike with this now?

Footsteps thundered down the stairs and Daryl appeared in the kitchen, rushing to him when he saw the pain on his face.

“Jesus Christ, Paul. What’ve you done, baby?” He grabbed Paul’s arm and brought it closer to have a look. He frowned and kissed the tips of Paul’s fingers, the only part of his hand not injured. He turned and grabbed the First Aid Kit from the shelf and applied the burn gel to it, wincing when Paul hissed in pain.

“Shit, man. Don’t think you’re gonna be able to ride your bike with that hand” Daryl said apologetically. Paul sighed.

“I know. I was really looking forward to riding next to you to the cabin and racing you through the hills there” Paul murmured, frowning at his injured hand. He felt fingers brush his beard as Daryl tilted his head back up.

“Hey, we’ll just take my truck instead, make the people who run that place think we’re redneck gays instead of biker gays” Daryl joked, joining in Paul’s laughter.

They both jumped hard as the smoke alarm went off above them, signalling them to the now blackened and burnt bacon in the pan on the stove. Paul rushed to throw it into the sink as Daryl frantically used an oven tray to fan the smoke away from the alarm. As the alarm finally stopped and the pan was soaked in water, Paul looked over at Daryl.  
“Maybe cereal is safer”, he said.

Paul returned to their room after breakfast and dressed as Daryl showered. He double checked that the shower was still running before he dived his hand into his packed overnight bag, feeling for the small velvet box hidden beneath his clothes. As his fingers closed around it, he closed his eyes and sighed. This night is going to be perfect, he thought.

Perfect.

********

Paul had decided he didn’t mind the change in vehicle not long into their journey to the cabin he had booked; sitting together in the cab of the truck had given them time to chat and joke and for Paul to torture Daryl with his music choices. Really, you’d think after four years together that Daryl would be used to Paul’s love of indie rock but he had still never given it chance and refused to. As they neared the site where they would be staying, Paul felt content and forgot entirely about the minor hiccup in his plan.

The major hiccup came upon their arrival to the site. Paul knew something was wrong when he entered the site office to get the key for Cabin 9. The look on the manager’s face was too uncomfortable, and Paul knew it had nothing to do with him turning up with his male partner.

“What do you mean, fully booked? I booked Cabin 9 weeks ago under my name! How can it be occupied?” he demanded, not even trying to keep his usually even temper in check. He involuntarily clenched his hands into fists and immediately regretted it as his burned hand began to throb again.

“I’m so sorry, sir! Mr Rovia, your booking failed to go through as our system crashed when we tried to book it. We’ve been trying to contact you on the number you provided but haven’t had any luck” the manager- Gabriel, the nametag read- replied, “We’re more than happy to issue a full refund for your deposit, but I’m afraid we have no more cabins free for the whole weekend”.

“Oh, for the love of—“Paul began.

“But! We can provide some camping equipment! All the necessities for a night under the stars in our campgrounds just beyond the area? Fully comped by us, no plot charge or parking charge for you and your, um, partner’s truck” he offered, smiling a bright, almost begging smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Paul sighed, weighing up the options in his head. He glanced back through the window to look at Daryl.

“Fine”.

As it turned out, convincing Daryl that camping would be better than looking for other options had taken no effort. If anything, he was more excited about it than when Paul had revealed his original plans of the cabin a few weeks prior. He had even excitedly chosen their camping spot and confidently set up their tent with ease as Paul tried his hardest to remember his one month of Boy Scouts membership to dig the hole in the ground for their fire. This will not ruin our night, he thought resolutely, using his uninjured hand to dig into the dirt.

*****

In the end, it didn’t. Paul couldn’t remember why he was disappointed with having to camp as he leaned against Daryl’s warmth by the flickering fire. Daryl was tracing lazy patterns into Paul’s back as he finished the bar of chocolate in his other hand.

“Always had such a sweet tooth” Paul said affectionately, “Remember that chocolate body paint we used that time?”

Daryl huffed and rubbed his free hand over his face in shame.

“Remember Rick’s face when he walked in on us better” he chuckled, “Thought the poor guy was gonna have a damn heart attack”.

Paul let his head fall back as he laughed out loud. He remembered it well, too. Rick had not been able to look at either of them for weeks after the incident, and still couldn’t if anyone was eating chocolate around them. Served him right, Paul thought, he should’ve knocked first.

“Still the best decision I ever made” Daryl murmured.

“Buying chocolate body paint?” Paul laughed, looking up at him.

“Nah, man” Daryl replied, “You”

Paul’s smile melted into a soft look as he closed the distance between them and placed a light kiss on Daryl’s lips.

“I love you” he whispered as he pulled back, stroking Daryl’s hair softly.

“Love you too” Daryl closed the distance once more to kiss him again, “Think we should retire to the tent now, don’t you, Sir?”

Paul laughed, “Yes, I agree”

Once inside their tent, the two organised all of their stuff into the bottom corner out of the way, with the exception of Paul’s bag, which he had positioned next to his side of the bed mat, unwilling to let the secret cargo inside out of arms reach as they camped. Daryl quirked an eyebrow at it lying next to Paul but stayed silent. 

Eventually, under the gradually increasing sounds of rainfall that had begun outside, the two settled into their joint sleeping bag and lay in a warm tangle of limbs. They kissed languidly for a while, hands wandering every now and then, neither trying to move things any further as they enjoyed one another’s bodies slowly.

Although distracted, Paul’s thoughts turned to the small box hidden in the bag behind him, within arm’s reach. About how easy it would be to reach back and take it out, take the plunge and propose to Daryl in the confines of the tent they had been forced to sleep in, while it was quiet and just the two of them. He was considering the possible ramifications of proposing in this situation- getting engaged while they were undressed in bed wasn’t the most romantic thing in the world- when he felt the tell-tale signs of rain dripping onto the side of his head. He pulled away from Daryl’s mouth and looked up, shocked.

“Shit” he barely heard Daryl over the roar of emotions in his mind. No, no, no, nothing else, please, he thought, closing his eyes against the burning that had begun behind them.  
“We better get the stuff to the truck before this thing breaks any more” Daryl was saying, pulling on his clothes and shoes hastily, while Paul followed at a much slower pace, still trying to force the burning in his eyes to stop.

Paul pulled on his own shoes and gathered what he could carry into his arms, carefully avoiding his burn.

“You go ahead with what you can” Daryl said, “I’ll pack this up and then we can dump it on that manager’s desk before we go home. Maybe he’ll give us a free night in a cabin another weekend if we complain enough”

Paul didn’t know how Daryl could still joke when things had turned so shit, but he forced himself to show a fake smile and followed his boyfriend’s orders. After running to the truck and getting soaked through to the skin as he did, Paul threw everything he had into the trunk and was about to close it when he paused. He reached in and grabbed the ring box from his bag, pocketing it before slamming the trunk shut angrily. He stormed to the passenger’s side and pulled his door closed, leaning over to start the truck and the heaters before falling back into his seat, defeated. 

As the heat slowly spread through the cab, the burning in Paul’s eyes grew as his vision blurred and a lump began to form in his throat. He had not cried in years, but at that moment, there wasn’t a thing he could think of that could stop the onslaught of tears that fell from his eyes as sobs racked through his body. He let himself cry and sob until his face and beard were damp and his stomach and throat ached with pain. He was crying so hard that he failed to notice Daryl’s arrival until he had deposited the broken tent in the trunk and found his way to the driver’s seat.

“Fuckin’ dangerous out there with that rain now, reckon we should find somewhere to have a drink round here before we- Paul?” Daryl said, concern filling his face and voice as he finally noticed the state his boyfriend was in, “What’s wrong?”

Paul tried to breathe in and talk but only managed to make himself gasp for air as more sobs ripped their way through his body.

“Whoa, whoa, baby” Daryl wrapped his arms around Paul and pulled him closer, thumbs wiping away tears that fell as Paul clutched at his front, breath slowing somewhat. They sat like that for a while before Paul’s breathing evened out and the tears stopped. 

“Wanna tell me what that was about?” Daryl finally muttered.

Paul took a deep breath.

“I had a plan” he whispered into Daryl’s chest, “And it all went wrong. We were supposed to have breakfast in bed, race our bikes here, stay inside a warm and dry cabin, with a real bed and bathroom, and have dinner and then I was gonna…and now it’s all ruined. I’m sorry”

“Babe, this has been awesome anyway. I mean yeah, it sucks about the cabin and the tent, but I was more worried about your hand than riding our bikes here and we had fun camping until we went to the tent and the rain started” Daryl reasoned, “I’ve got to spend more time next to you than we would have and that’s better in my eyes”  
Paul sighed and leaned back into his own seat.

“I know all that, and I get it, but I had a plan and it got ruined”, he said.

“What do you—? “ Daryl began.

Paul produced the ring box from his pocket, opened it and placed it on the dashboard for Daryl to clearly see.

“I had a plan.”

Paul looked down, afraid to look at Daryl’s face, to see the disappointment with how Paul had chosen to spring this on him, disappointed in him for letting things be ruined, for burning himself and not double checking the booking, and for breaking down and crying on their anniversary and—

“Ask me.”

Paul’s head shot up as his mouth dropped open. 

“What?”

“Ask me. Now.”

Daryl’s face was blank and set, his eyes challenging as they bore into Paul’s. It made Paul’s heart stutter as he looked deep into them, reaching forward to grab one of Daryl’s hands lightly.

“Will you marry me?”

He held his breath as he waited for an answer. Daryl wordlessly reached for the box and plucked the silver ring from inside, examining it. Slowly, so slowly Paul’s breathing nearly stopped altogether, he slipped it onto the third finger of his left hand and twirled it there for a moment before looking back at Paul. As their eyes met, he couldn’t keep the blank expression on his face any longer and cracked into a wide grin.

“Of course I fucking will”, he said, dragging Paul into what he would swear until his dying day was the best kiss he’d ever had with his new fiance. It didn't matter that it hadn't gone as planned anymore, they had each other.

It was perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like it! Go easy on me.


End file.
